Bees look for skunk cabbage when temperatures warm to 50 degrees. Prepare for possible drought by making sure your soil has sufficient potassium and phosphorus. Doves begin mating calls before dawn, joining the titmice and the cardinals. Plant onions directly in the ground as soon as the soil is properly prepared. The Moon enters the 2nd phase and will help to make the middle of February a time of major thaw, and of skunk courting. (Countryside)
Feb. 8: Boy Scouts founded, 1910.
Feb. 11-12, Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show. I am not a pet person, but I really like this show. I fall for the huge dogs, those who could drag me for miles, that have to run a dozen times a day. If not a Great Dane, then I want a shaggy one that has to be brushed every day. This is why I do not have a pet, my wants and my abilities are too far apart. Watch, it's fun!
Leonard Hall, who wrote "A Journal of the Seasons on an Ozark Farm" tells of an old farmer who was in the habit of getting up at a quarter to four each morning. That was a bit extreme even for a farmer. When asked why he did it, the old fellow had a ready answer. "Well," he said, "When I don't get up that early the next thing I know it's six o'clock and not a thing done."
Even a sloth understands that, probably why she is a sloth. I have told myself I need to get up every morning and get moving. But I either don't set the alarm, or in the early hours, turn it off. I know what I am doing, just think that another half-hour of rest won't hurt me. I know better. If I don't get up, by the time I have done my exercise, made breakfast, dressed for the day, the morning is half gone. Then I sit and eat and drink another cup of coffee, and it's going on toward noon. By this time, it's too late to clean a room, or unclutter a closet, better just read and do all that tomorrow.
I need to set the alarm, get up when it goes off, no hitting the snooze button 4 or 5 times -- I don't really sleep, would be better off setting it for the time I really need to be up and then do it. Not a resolution, too late for that, but a need to do. Will keep you posted.
Hydrating in the summer when it's hot and sticky out is a no-brainer, but when the weather turns cooler we tend to forget. The recommendation is to drink half your body weight in ounces of water a day. For example, if you weight 150 lbs., drink 75 oz. of water. (I think I am doing well to get 60 oz.)
Why so much? Water will keep you energized, so you have enough get-up-and-go to exercise, and feeling full, not to mention that extra bathroom trips can add to your daily step total! Have read that drinking water can keep you from having a UTI. Don't know if that is true, but if worth trying. If it seems too hard to sip that much, try adding half a lemon or some other frozen fruit to your glass. Keep a tally at first of total ounces consumed, a typical cup is 8 oz. so you'll know where you stand.
It's hard. I do keep a tally sheet on the kitchen table and try to remember to mark each drink. Sometimes in the evening I seem to have to drink a lot just to get to 60 oz. You don't have to drink just water. Your morning coffee, bedtime tea and that glass of milk with supper also count.
What is there about a flooded gutter that turns normally nice people into raging maniacs who want to see how far and how high they can make it splash. I watched a few the other morning. Most people slowed down, or waited until the other lane was clear so they could skirt around. Others sped up, hit the puddle running. Earlier this winter, a neighbor was out try to clear the drain, and several drivers took delight in splashing him. You can imagine what a blue trash truck going full-out can do. A couple of passes and he would have emptied all the gutters in the block.
It's OK to get your physical activity in small spurts, according to the latest U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans. That means the 2-3 minutes it takes to climb the stairs or walk from a faraway parking spot can count toward your weekly recommendation of 150 minutes of moderate exercise. Previous guidelines only counted activities lasting longer than 10 minutes toward your total.
"You'll need coffee shops and sunsets and road trips, airplanes and passports and new songs and old songs, but people more than anything else." (Jamie Trudrklunsky)
